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Gaza conflict: UN launches probe into possible Israeli war crimes, US votes against it

Updated
Thu 24 Jul 2014, 2:47 PM AEST

Photo

Palestinian patients before being moved out of the Wafa hospital near Gaza City.

AFP: Thomas Coex

The United Nations has launched an international inquiry into allegations of human rights violations and war crimes that may have been committed by Israel during its military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The resolution came as Gaza fighting continued to rage, displacing thousands more Palestinians and raising their death toll to 687, mostly civilians.

Palestinian medics said two worshippers were killed and 30 wounded in an attack on a mosque in the densely populated Zeitoun neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City on Wednesday.

In southern Abassan and Khuzaa villages, residents said they were besieged by Israeli snipers who wounded two Palestinians as they tried to emerge from hiding with white flags in hand.

The Israeli army also seized Wafa hospital in eastern Gaza, saying it had been used to shelter Hamas fighters. Patients were removed ahead of time after receiving warnings of the pending assault.

Israel named four commanders of Hamas ally the Islamic Jihad which it said it had killed in recent days.

Israel also announced that three of its soldiers were killed by explosive devices on Wednesday, raising the army death toll to 32.

The military also says one of its soldiers is missing, presumed dead. Hamas says it has captured him but has offered no evidence as yet.

Three civilians have also died in rocket attacks out of Gaza, including a Thai labourer hit on Wednesday.

Vote to support UN probe was 29-1, US sides with Israel

The UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday condemned the Israeli campaign which it said involved "disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks", including aerial bombing of civilian areas, collective punishment, and the killing of hundreds of Palestinians.

The 47-member forum adopted a resolution presented by Palestinians by a vote of 29 states in favour, to 1 against - the United States - with 17 abstentions including all nine European Union members.

"We came here to try to achieve together with you at least minimum justice for children who are being dismembered, for women whose bodies are lying in the streets, to find some justice for those who are being exterminated," said Ibrahim Khraishi, ambassador of the Palestinian observer mission to the UN in Geneva.

The war is extracting a heavy toll on impoverished Gaza, with Palestinian officials saying that at least 475 houses have been destroyed by Israeli fire and 2,644 partially damaged.

About 46 schools, 56 mosques and seven hospitals have also suffered varying degrees of destruction.

Israel and its ally the United States have rejected the probe, calling it one-sided and counterproductive amid efforts to clinch a ceasefire. Israel has observer status at the discussion.

Israel ambassador Eviator Manor told the forum: "Why does this council believe that naming and shaming Israel will get it anywhere?

"Throughout the entire escalation of events, Israel has always acted with maximum restraint, fully committed to international law in general and the laws of armed conflict."

Israel has established its own special commission of inquiry "with a scope beyond what is required under international and criminal law," Mr Manor said.

"Hamas is the aggressor. Hamas is the one committing war crimes ... open your eyes to reality," he said.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted furiously to the news of the probe, aware of the damning report into Israel's 2008-09 Gaza operation, which killed more than 1,000 Palestinians.

"The decision today by the HRC is a travesty," he said in a statement.

"The HRC should be launching an investigation into Hamas's decision to turn hospitals into military command centres, use schools as weapons depots and place missile batteries next to playgrounds, private homes and mosques."

The response of Israeli justice minister Tzipi Livni was also blunt on her Facebook page.

"Get lost," she wrote, in response to the probe.

UN high commissioner cites possible war crimes on both sides

UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay, a former UN war crimes judge, says Israel may have committed war crimes by killing civilians and shelling houses and hospitals during its offensive in Gaza, which began on July 8.

She also condemned the firing of rockets and mortars by Palestinian militants into Israel, saying such acts also constitute breaches of international law.

Further talks are planned with Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza and has mediated with Hamas.

Hamas has brushed off the US diplomat's efforts, saying it would not agree to a ceasefire without making gains.

Meanwhile, in another blow to Israel's economy and image, American aviation authorities have extended a ban on US flights to Tel Aviv for a second day, spooked by rocket attacks emanating from the Gaza Strip.

Many other global airlines are also avoiding the Jewish state.

The Geneva forum convened the special one-day session at the request of the Palestinians, Egypt and Pakistan.

Israel, which accuses the UN council of bias, boycotted the Geneva forum for 20 months, resuming cooperation in October.

Its envoy defends Israel's airstrikes and its ground assault on Gaza as being necessary to defend the Israeli people.

The council "cannot be supportive of an organisation that is no different than Al Qaeda, ISIS (Islamic State), Boko Haram, Hezbollah and other extreme radical Islamist organisations that negate the very essence of human rights," Mr Manor said.